In the next two weeks (assuming all goes well), we'll be launching a new module for Independent Booksellers. This will enable retailers to download Book jackets, advance information and sample extracts from forthcoming titles.

I hope this means that we'll be able to spread new book information across a wider range of booksellers than we have bren able to reach until now. It will also mean that retailers can download sample chapters from books and offer them to customers in their shops as 'tasters' which may encourage discerning readers to buy books that they would otherwise have passed over.

For instance, I have just read Home to an Empty House by Alun Richards which is published as part of the Library of Wales series that aims to republish Welsh writers whose books may not be readily available or are out of print. It is an enthralling story of a marriage and its disintegration and explores as well, the effect the protagonists have on those around them. I can probably say with some degree of certainty, that apart from a range of booksellers in Wales, you'd be hard pressed to find a copy of Home to an Empty House in your local bookshop. However, if you do spot a copy in a bookshop near you, let me know and I'll congratulate the bookseller on his or her good taste and send them a free copy of another Library of Wales title as a 'thank you'.